Snap-seal.



No. 654,598. Ptn'ted .luly 3l,-.|900.

. E. J. BROOKS.

SNAP SEAL.

- (Application filed June 18, 1900.)

(No M511 1.

EDWARD J. BROOKS, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW JERSEY.

SNAP-S EAL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 654,598,

dated July 31, 1900..

Application filed June 18, 1900. Serial No. 20,751. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD J. BROOKS, a' citizen of the UnitedStates of America, and a resident of East Orange, in the State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Snap-Seals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to those seals for railway-cars, baggage, &c., in which a flexible shackle of wire interlocks with a seal part in the form of a disk of sheet metal, usually tin-plate, and to those seals which are self-- fastening.

The presentimprovedsnap-seal is preferably and conveniently complete in two light and inexpensive parts adapted to be permanently united at the factory and incapable of disarrangement. g

The invention consists in a self-fastening or snap seal composed of a flexible shackle of suitable wire and a sheet-metal disk having a tubular or partly-tubular rim provided with inturned rigid lips to coact with springcatches on the shackle and in certain novel combinations of parts embodied in such seal, as hereinafter set forth and claimed.

A sheet of drawings accompanies this specification as part thereof. a

Figure 1 of thedra'wings is an elevation of the shackle of this improved snap-seal. Fig. 2-is a face View of its disk-shaped seal part. Fig. 3 is a sectional face view of the latter, showing the interior of its partly-tubular rim. Fig. 4 is a sectional face view of the same seal fastened. Fig. 5 represents a section on the line 5 5, Fig. 2. Fig. 6 represents a section on the line 6 6, Fig. 8. Fig. 7 is an elevation of the shackle of a modified seal, and Fig. 8 is a sectional face view'of the seal part of said modified seal.

Like letters and numbers refer to like parts in all the figures.

The improved snap-seal in either of its forms is composed of a flexible shackle A, of suitable wire, preferably flat, sufficiently hard to be resilient, and a disk-shaped seal part B, of sheet metal, such as tin-plate, both parts being of peculiar construction. The shackle A has at its respective ends hookshaped catches 1 and 2, with a crimped portion 3 as the shank of each catch. The seal part B has a central field 4, provided with suitable distinguishing marks, as the name of a railroad or express and a serial or press number. A partly-tubular rim 5 surrounds said field. Inturned rigid lips CL and 1), formed by the metal punched from inlet-openings c in the rim 5, coact with the catches 1 and 2 in the fastened seal, 4E, and flattened portions d and e of said rim limit the spaces into which said lips project, soas to prevent refastening a violated seal. 1

In the species represented by Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive, the catches 1 and 2 project outwardly the openings 0 are between the lips or and b, and a flattened portion 6 separates the two op nings and forms, together with the opposing faces of the lips a and l), a pair of mouth portions, which are occupied by the ,crimped shank portions 3 ofthe shackle, as in Fig. 4, whereby the catches a and b are effectively guarded against manipulation by picklocks. The die-crimped shank portions serve also to distinguish the original shackle ends and to make manifest the fraud in case a violated seal should by any possibility be refastened.

In the species represented by Figs. 7 and 8 the shackle-catches 1 and 2, Fig. 7, project inward or toward each other,an d the seal-part lips a and b, Fig. 8,are between the inletopenings 0.

In either arrangement one shackle end is inserted and self-fastened at the factory, as represented in dotted lines at A in Fig. 8, and in use the other shackle end is passed through a pair of car-door staples C, Fig. l, or the like and then inserted and self-fastened, as at tested by the click, when the catch 2 of the shackle .A snaps behind the lip Z2 within the seal part B. The shackle A must then be cut or broken to release it, and the intact seal is conclusive evidence that the sealed closure has not been opened.

For additional security the seal part B may be enameled any color, tinned, galvanized, or covered with a light layer or coating of lead or joint or seam cannot be easily pried open Without so defacing the seal part asto insure detection.

The seal parts are preferably circular and can be made economically in this shape from scrap-tin5 but they may, if preferred, be of other suitable substance, so that its single other shapes, and like additional modifications will suggest themselves to those skilled in the art.

Having thus described said improvement,

I claim as myinvention and desire to patent under this specification- 1. An improved snap seal comprising a flexible shackle of resilient Wire having hookshaped catches at both ends, and a shaped seal part having a partly-tubular rim, rigid lips within said rim to coact with said catches, entrances for the shackle ends, and flattened portions contracting the spaces within said rim in communication with said entrances.

2. The combination, in a snap-seal, of a flexible shackle of resilient Wire, and a diskshaped seal part of sheet metal, united with each other at one shackle end, said shackle having at its other end a hook-shaped catch, and said seal part having a partly-tubular rim, an inturned rigid lip to coact with said catch, and an entrance thereto formed by'the hole from which said lip is displaced.

3. The combination, in a snap-seal, of a flexible shackle of resilient wire and a diskdiskshaped seal part of sheet metal, united with each other at one shackle end, said shackle. having at its other end a hook-shaped catch and a crimped shank portion, and said seal part-having a partly-tubular rim, a rigid inturned lip to coact with said catch, an entrance admitting said catch and shank portion, and flattened portions contracting the space Within said rim in communication with said entrance.

4. In a snap-seal, the combination of a onepart flexible shackle of resilient wire, having a hook-shaped catch and a crimped shank portion at each end, and a disk-shaped seal part of sheet metal, in one piece, having a partly-tubular rim, inturned rigid lips to coact with said catches, entrances between said lips which admit said catches and shanks,and flattened portions which contract the spaces within said rim in communication with said entrances,substantiall y as hereinbefore specified.

EDWARD J. BROOKS. Witnesses:

THOMAS TIERNEY, JOHN DECKER. 

